VacationSelector
Nyhavn, Copenhagen
CopenhagenNyhavn
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock

Photos: Copenhagen by Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Copenhagen or Petra?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Copenhagen for

  • families
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Copenhagen’s own page.

Choose Petra for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Petra’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Copenhagen 40, Petra 5: Copenhagen leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Copenhagen 76, Petra 22: Copenhagen leads by 54 points.
Culture & sights. Copenhagen 72, Petra 85: Petra leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Copenhagen 60, Petra 5: Copenhagen leads by 55 points.
Nature & outdoors. Copenhagen 45, Petra 78: Petra leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Copenhagen 72, Petra 30: Copenhagen leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Copenhagen 85, Petra 25: Copenhagen leads by 60 points.
Getting around. Copenhagen 85, Petra 25: Copenhagen leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. Copenhagen 70, Petra 18: Copenhagen leads by 52 points.
Affordability. Copenhagen 18, Petra 45: Petra leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Copenhagen 68, Petra 10: Copenhagen leads by 58 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Copenhagen 55, Petra 28: Copenhagen leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Copenhagen and Petra.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Copenhagen
Best match
62match

Wins on families and getting around with your weighting.

Petra
31match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Copenhagen in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
17 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Petra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
CopenhagenPetra

Where the figures come from

Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.

Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Copenhagen: 1991-2020 normals, Koebenhavn / Landbohoejskolen (2.4 km from centre). Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCopenhagenPetra
Official languageDanishArabic
CurrencyDanish Krone (DKK)Jordanian Dinar (JOD)
SocketsCEFK230 V, 50 HzBCFGJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112911
Elevation14 m850 m
Main airportCopenhagen Kastrup Airport (CPH)8 km from centre196 non-stop destinationsKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCopenhagenPetra
City population667,099-
People per km²7,339-
Museums within 10 km722
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Copenhagen or Petra somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.